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Health benefits of nuts
The health benefits of nuts are widely accepted in many cultures. Most traditional cuisines incorporate nuts in one way or another. Nuts are part of many dietary patterns, including vegan (raw or regular), vegetarian, pescetarian, paleo, keto, Mediterranean, etc. Tree nuts and peanuts Tree nuts include walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, etc. Peanuts are botanically legumes, but are considered in the “nut” category due to its similar nutritional profile. Sadly, they also share the potential to cause food allergy. Both tree nuts and peanuts are in the list of top ten food allergens that must be declared in food packaging (read more about food allergy here). Most scientific studies include peanuts…
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Product review: Pili nuts
I first heard about pili nuts a couple of years ago. These nuts hail from the Philippines and are particularly sought after by people following a low-carb or keto diet, due to its high content of fat and low content of carbohydrate. They’re pretty hard to come by, especially in Australia. Luckily for me, a teammate recently went to the Philippines and brought me a bag of plain roasted ones (she knows me well). The nuts look like giant almond slivers and have a soft, buttery and crumbly texture. They are very mild in flavour so you might want to shake some sea salt on them before trying them. The…
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Product review: Macro Natural Nut Mix
Woolies has recently launched a snack pack called Macro Natural Nut Mix. The bag contains 5 single-serve packs 5 and costs $3.99, making a convenient and reasonably-priced snack. Sadly, convenience also means extra packaging. Each pack contains 30g of nuts (almonds, blanched peanuts, walnuts and cashews), which is the recommended serving size in the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Note that the nuts are either raw or blanched and unsalted, making them healthier than the roasted and/or flavoured varieties. Nuts contain healthy fats (mainly monounsaturated and some polyunsaturated fatty acids), as well as some protein and fibre. They also contain appreciable amounts of micronutrients such as vitamin E, folate, magnesium, calcium, and…
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Product review: Kitz Living Foods
Nuts, seeds and other plant foods (grains, legumes, etc.) contain anti-nutrients that can keep our bodies from digesting them properly and absorbing minerals and other micro-nutrients (for a longer explanation read this article). Cooking, soaking, sprouting and fermenting are ways to reduce the anti-nutrient content of foods. Nuts and seeds that have been soaked (usually overnight) and then dried at a low temperature are commonly known as “activated”. Kitz Living Foods offers activated nuts and seeds and snack products made with them that are free from: gluten, wheat, dairy, yeast, eggs, soy, peanuts, sesame, fish, shellfish and cane sugar. They are raw, vegan and made from mostly organic ingredients. We’ve…
